Tuesday, October 19, 2010

Tuesday Trio


Hiding down a winding road that connects Harcum with Route 14 in Gloucester is the site of an old Texaco station.  This sign is all that is left.




It's a great sign.



But it looks so lonesome standing there on the side of the road all by itself.

This old Texaco emblem can still be seen in various places around Mathews and Gloucester.  Short Lane Ice Cream, a former post office and general store, still sports a Texaco sign above the entrance.  The old service station that's now a car wash at  Edgehill used to be a Texaco, although I believe they've painted over the beautiful old sign. (It truly pains me to think that someone painted over that antique sign.)

Not too long ago there was a Texaco station at Hyco Corner in Mathews, where the infamous Hardees now stands. (Hardees is infamous because it has The Longest Drive Through Wait Ever In Recorded History. Slower than molasses in January does not even come close to characterizing the pace.)

Although I may be confusing buildings, isn't the Dilly Dally Emporium in a brick building that has a Texaco insignia near the roof?  I know I've seen the Texaco star somewhere but my ADD inability to retain details prevents me from specifying exactly where in the court house I saw it.

The Curves here in Mathews used to be a Gulf station that my sister and I rode bikes to for the sole purpose of purchasing penny candy. Nowadays you'd be run over flatter than a pancake if you tried to ride a bicycle along Route 198. 

And now, recognizing that I could go way off on a tangent involving penny candy or riding bikes with my sister, I will draw this to a close so we don't drift too far off course.

If you have any memories of some of the old service stations, please chime in.  

And pass the penny candy. I'll take a root beer barrel, a fireball; some Pixy Stix and a pack of candy cigarettes.


19 comments:

deborah said...

Wonderful signs!
Sixlets and a rootbeer barrel please

BayBrowder said...

I'll take a bag full of two-for-a-penny Mint Juleps and Banana Splits....here's my dime.

Rampant inflation (20%) in the early 1950's when they changed the Coke machine where my dad worked from a nickle to 6 cents. Pay two cents extra if you want to take the bottle with you....or if you did not bring an empty bottle.

On our road (route 729) near Port Haywood in Mathews County is an old AMOCO sign.

Annie said...

Gosh, that reminds me of when I called in for fuel the other day. And discovered the whole building was gone. The sign was still there, and as I drove in the slip road, looking for the place, I realized it had disappeared into thin air. I am so glad another friend said she did the same thing! How can something disappear from one week to the next without my noticing it!?

Meg McCormick said...

My first job was at my uncle's grocery store, situated at a crossroads in the middle of nowhere. Besides groceries, they sold hardware and also had a gas pump. When I was working, the thing would beep inside and I would have to authorize it for whoever was pumping. I remember filling my Buick Skylark for $10 there!

Jamie said...

Short Lane has the BEST ice cream. And while it might have The Longest Drive Thru Wait Ever, Hardee's also has the best chocit shakes ever- with cweam or without. In Deltaville there was a little store known as the Stop and Shop. It's where my cousin and I went to purchase explosives, er, fireworks. We cried when it burned down.

Lynne M. said...

My parents ran that Edgehill Texaco years ago and that was my first job. I was 13, pumping gas (yes, there was full service), washing windshields, checking oil. We even had one of those hoses that made a "ding ding" when the car rolled over it. I have alot of fond memories of that place. I hate how it has been so neglected..

Mrs F with 4 said...

In addition to everything else, my grandfather also kept a small ironmongers shop (hardware store?). It had sawdust on the wooden floor to soak up any kerosene or oil spills, and I can rememebr the smell of it right now. It also had a toilet upstairs with a crack that pinched unwary bottoms when you sat down (is it any wonder I hover when forced to us toilets of unknown temperaments?).

Next door was Mrs Salisbury's sweet shop, with huge jars of every sweet you could imagine. Rhubarb-and-custard, and four brown or white chocolate mice for a ha'penny....

Gas stations? No fond memories - you literally bought gas there - but we do have one with the brand name 'Thrust'. Is it only me that finds that funny?

Trisha said...

Those signs are so great when you see them. However, in my area everything is so new that the old signs just aren't around!

Daryl said...

I am sitting here replaying my times in the court house and cant recall seeing a Texaco sign ..

I am so old I remember half penny candy

And I am wishing I could quit my job and just travel ... sigh, it never fails as much as I love ToonMan and the kits and NYC I love traveling ...

Meg McCormick said...

heh heh heh, Mrs. F. said "Thrust." (Yes, I am a 14 year old boy trapped in a 43 year old woman's body.)

Mental P Mama said...

Ohhhhh how I want a root beer barrel! And some pixie stix!

Noe Noe Girl...A Queen of all Trades. said...

I'll take a bag of Mary janes plez!
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Anonymous said...

In the forties, Flat Iron Service Station in Gloucester sold Mobilgas which had a flying horse trademark. The gas was visible in a clear canister high on the pump and it bubbled as it was pumped. I was the little girl dancing barefoot in the rain puddles of floating rainbows (gas film). We also sold Apple and Brown mule chewing tobacco. Mom

Anonymous said...

WV: twakesu
the sound your stomach makes when you have accidentally swallowed Apple or Brown Mule Chewing tobacco.

foolery said...

No fond 'membrances of gas stations, other than laughing at the Rotten Robbie ones on road trips through the western states. One of my brother Rob's many nicknames was Robbie Rotten.

I couldn't buy candy until I was older so I missed most of those -- but does anyone remember Abba Zabba, Chick-O-Sticks and Fire Sticks? That was my era.

Chesapeake Bay Woman said...

Hello, y'all, and thanks as always for leaving a comment. It's always such a pleasure to return home from a long day to read these.

Lynn m - I spoke to my mother tonight, and she likely knows your parents. She's the one who commented here today about living at Flat Iron near where her grandfather was the local blacksmith. She thinks she knows your mother. Small world!

She also evidently swallowed chewing tobacco...

She's told me stories of sneaking cigarettes underneath the front porch of another store, Wan, which was the old Day School/now Ware Academy. (At least I think that's where the cigarettes were sneaked. Snuck? She definitely has a cigarette sneaking story involving the porch.)

She has many, many stories to tell, and she tells them very well. I'm trying to encourage her to write them down.

Thanks, everyone for commenting, I truly appreciate it.

Occasional Kate said...

CBW, I remember going down Harcum Road when we were members at Olive Branch Methodist during the early 90s. Do you recall down near (or maybe past) the old Texaco sign, an old sign angled toward the road, shaped maybe like a skillet? I think it was for a restaurant, I'm not sure. The place was already long since closed by my time, but I remember that interesting sign!

Chesapeake Bay Woman said...

Kate-Although I'm not sure it's the same place (because someone was tailgating me as I admired the sights, making it impossible to focus on anything), there was a place I wanted to turn around and investigate further, and it could well have been the place you describe. There is so much hidden back in there - loved the ride. (Except for the person tailgating me.)

Annie said...

speaking of old signs...

I once took my Mum out to see where her parents had lived when she was born...(out in the country), and lo and behold, the sign for the old place is still there on the gate. Very special. As well, there was a cairn in front remembering the old homestead, which was burnt down by fire ..in the year my Mum was born. She always said that her parents had suffered two fires. Gosh. It was true. I hate to think that it might have burnt down while her Mum was in hospital having her. Having older brothers around, who knows what they might have got up to while their mum was away?